


home is everything that's not there

by kunnskat



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Gen, Mentions of Arya Stark & Bran Stark, Mentions of Arya Stark & Nymeria, Uses Rickon's death in the series, Uses possibility of Lady Stoneheart existing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-16 01:23:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10561012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kunnskat/pseuds/kunnskat
Summary: She sleeps in warmth and happiness and amusement and she knows she is home.





	

She sleeps in warmth and happiness and amusement and she knows she is home. 

There is a part of her that also knows she is wrong. For home is Winterfell, with its grey walls and laughter of the people as she runs around making fun of her siblings, home is her father smiling when she brings him flowers, her mother when she gets her hair done with the same style as hers even though it's just to make her less mad at her, home is Robb and Jon giving in and teaching her how to swing a sword, home is Sansa sneaking lemon cake and sharing it with her to make sure she doesn't tell, home is Bran climbing the walls and Rickon laughing as she chases him. 

Arya Stark cannot be in Winterfell for Winterfell has fallen, the people within it long gone. Winterfell can no longer be home, but she is home all the same. 

The warmth beside her growls and without opening her eyes, Arya smiles, though she knows it is different from what she would have expected. 

"Grey Wind," she whispers, hope flowing through her, and the growling ceases, something wet, Grey Wind's tongue of course, wetting her face, and Arya giggles as she opens her eyes. "Stop that." 

She does not mean it and is disappointed when the direwolf obeys. Still, it is a relief to see him after what she saw of him last, that Arya does not complain of it, she merely hugs him even knowing that this is nothing but a dream. But perhaps this being a dream means there is more for her here than this. 

Grey Wind jumps from her bed and run out of her room, and for the room to grow cold and dark, black marks appearing on their own, and Arya follows, life appearing where she runs and fading behind her. 

For a moment she wonders why, but dismisses it at the sound of familiar laughter, and Rickon appears like everything else had, jumping into her arms, her little brother taller like she had imagined but still she catches him. She will always catch him like she had promised she would the day Bran had fallen from the tower, no little brother of hers would fall again. 

He laughs and wriggles out of her arms, taking her hand and dragging her towards Shaggydog, and Arya laughs as the direwolf tackles them both, forcing them to the floor. She does not feel even the slightest moment of fear at the wildness in their eyes, but delights in the familiarity of it. They remind her so much of herself and Nymeria and she has missed that. 

The sound of someone else laughing joins theirs and her head snaps up so that she can see him. Arms grasp her under her arms and lifts her from the pile even as Grey Wind joins it, a direwolf that can only be Lady taking a moment to lick her hand before following with Summer right behind her, and then those arms are around her, hugging her to the chest of her older brother, Robb, who smiles at her with such warmth and love that she's half tempted to tease him about it. She doesn't, though, because those are her own feelings mirrored within him, and she cannot help but cry a little as she hugs him back. 

Another set of arms surround them both and when she sees her father's face, his head is attached to his body like she'd feared and believed it never again would be. 

Laughter keeps drowning out the tears she would have cried if only she knew how, smiles on all their faces, and she does not question why it is only them there, does not dare to think for a moment of anything but those of her family that is right there. She is home even if she is not, and for now that is enough.


End file.
